Page 55 of Demon's Bane

It wasn’t all that long ago, though, that I was the recipient of those same sorts of stares.

Silent, judging, reminding me day in and day out that I hadn’t re-earned my place here. Pitying, too, in the wake of my father’s sudden death, but also wary to welcome the wayward son back into the village fold.

It’s gotten better in the last few months, or so I had thought, but apparently bringing a witch home with me was the perfectway to set myself back to those first few grief-hazy days of homecoming.

At the time of my father’s death, I’d been away from home for fifteen years. I spent most of that time bouncing around the larger cities in the demon realm and apprenticing in several trades. At least when I wasn’t drinking and carousing, exploring all the pleasures this realm has to offer.

Despite that debauchery, I’d eventually found a trade that seemed promising—working alongside a merchant who dealt in buying and selling goods from all across the realm.

He’d been a fair man, strict and principled, and I thought I’d finally found a place for myself in Gales Harbor, a coastal city some five hundred miles from here. I had a set of rooms to rent, a few new friends to drink with, and the bare bones of a life plan forming in my mind.

Until I’d gotten the letter that changed everything.

My father, dead at nearly two-hundred years of age. He had not been young by demon standards, but certainly had at least a century left ahead of him.

He’d never been pleased I left the village. Though he didn’t criticize me outright, it was clear in his hesitance to talk about the life I was making for myself during my infrequent trips home. It was there, in his surly silence and the way he never seemed to be around when it came time for me to leave again.

Beyond a few hastily scrawled letters over the years leading up to his death, I’d had little communication with him. I never got to say goodbye, or to prove to him it was not for nothing, me leaving to make my own way.

And after he was gone, my guilt and regret made it impossible for me to leave again.

I owe it to Halla and my mother to be here for them. I owe it to my village to step into the empty place he left behind. I evenowe it to Tyvar, who was once my closest friend, to set aside my wandering and my frivolity and come home.

All those thoughts swirl in my mind and press down on my chest like a leaden weight as Joan and I leave the village. The entrance to the primary cave system is only a short walk past the cabins at the edge of the settlement, but every step feels like an effort.

Especially when I realize I’ve been silent since we left the pavilion, and another wave of hot shame courses through me.

“I’m sorry,” I say roughly, not knowing what else I can offer her. “For what happened back there.”

“For Tyvar?” she guesses.

“And for my mother.”

To my surprise, Joan lets out a soft laugh. “You look like her. Halla, too.”

I cut her a sideways glance. “You think so? I’ve always been told I take more after—”

Cursing internally, I swallow hard around the words I can’t say.

“Your father?”

All I can do is nod in agreement, and we continue on for another minute or two in silence. Rounding a bend in the path, the entrance to the mine comes into view. Flanked by two guards keeping watch, it cuts deep into the side of the mountain and has been carefully maintained for generations.

“You didn’t tell them,” Joan says thoughtfully as we approach the tunnel’s entrance.

“Tell them what?”

“About me and David. I… I didn’t say anything about it, and you didn’t correct me.”

I stop walking in the middle of the path and take my mate’s hand.

“It’s nobody’s business but yours, Joan. If it were important, I would have said something, but it’s not.”

A flash of emotion in those dark eyes of hers, something I can’t quite read before she drops her gaze to the ground.

Hooking a finger under her chin, I tip her face up toward mine. “He has nothing to do with you. Dredging up the past will only hurt you, and I have no interest in that.”

She gives me a small nod, and I squeeze her hand.

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